Hinged rods mechanism for reclinable armchairs



Sept. 27, 1960 M. FOSSATI 2,954,072

HINGED RODS MECHANISM FOR RECLINABLE ARMCHAIRS Filed July 15, 1957 Maria F55; at"

' INVENTOR.

Agent- United States Patent Qfifice P ientease i. 27, 19cc HlNGED RODS MECHANISM FOR RECLINABLE ARMCHAIRS Mario Fossati, Via P.R., Giuliani 13, Lissone, Italy Filed July 15, 1957, Ser. No. 671,914

Claims priority, application Italy July 17, 1956 4 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates to a mechanism for the relative displacement of the seat and of the back of an armchair designed to permit, in one position of the armchair, the substantial alignment of its foot rest with the seat and, in another position, its retraction below and adjacent to the seat.

More particularly this invention is concerned with mechanisms for upholstered reclinable armchairs.

Upholstered armchairs with independently hinged seat and back and with a foot rest connected by an articulated mechanism of conventional design 'allow the user to pass from one resting position to another, reclining position in which his feet are supported on the foot rest.

The principal drawbacks of such mechanisms consist in their fairly complicated structure and the awkward configuration of chair arms. It is in fact known that these conventional articulated mechanisms comprise a .rather large number of levers and rods with fulcra hinged drawbacks by providing an adjusting mechanism for armchairs which has a simplified hinged-rod structure and which allows the upholstered arms, designed to conceal such structure, to be given an aesth'ctical outline which does not depart from the modern lines of known reclinable upholstered armchairs even as the arms extend with their lower ends to the lower level 'of the seat.

A further object of the invention is to provide an in which the foot rest may be automatically retracted toa position adjacent to the lower face of the seat,:s0 as to complete the aesthetical contours of this latter member of the chair.

armchair, including a mechanismof the type referred to, ii

A further object of the invention is to provide an armchair including a mechanism according to the invention which, when assuming a reclining position as a consequence of the pressure of the body of the user resting in the same, appears to be automatically balanced in that position, without having recourse to special locking means operable, for instance, only upon a rising of the user from the chair.

. Another object is to provide an armchair including a mechanism as described which is able to assume a series of extremely comfortable reclining positions, these posi-- tions being unaffected by, for instance, the weight of the users feet on the foot rest.

According to a feature of the invention, the adjusting mechanism of the armchair comprises a stationary supporting structure, a seat independently hinged to such structure, a back rest independently hinged ro ances tune, a pivoted foot rest, and link means including a order lever and a longitudinally extendingmember oper able to rotate the foot rest about its pivot, through an angle of substantially ,simult2meously with a rotation of the back rest from a forward sitting position to a rearward reclining position of the armchair. I

These and other objects and features will be better understood with reference to the detailed, description of two embodiments of the invention, given in connection with the accompanying drawing, which is for an exen'n plificative purpose only and not limitative, and wherein:

Fig. fl is a diagrammatic perspective view of a reclining position of an armchair with one arm particular- 1y shown to incorporate the mechanism according totlie invention; 7 7

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same armchair, includ ing the same mechanism in a second reclining position; and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a. modified embodiment of the mechanism mounted on an armchair cf the type referred to in Fig. 1 and 2. p I, 4 V g Primed reterence numerals .will, be employed in Fig. 3

to show parts or members designated by corresponding unprimed numeral in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring now more particularly to 2,- an armchair for incorporating the mechanism. according to the invention, has a stationary supporting tructure 1, formed of a framework 2, to which the plates li-af'c fixed. To these plates 3 the sides or arms 4 of the armchair are secured in a conventional manner. On each side of the illustrated armchair a mechanism-according to the invention is provided, which will be new more particularly described. 1 v

The back rest 5 or the armchair is hinged at, 6 tothe plate 3, Whereas the seat 7 is hinged to the same plate ata different point 8. The foot rest 9 is hinged by};

fulcrum 10 to the seat 7 and, in the positioushown in Fig. 1, is housed in a recess 11, specially provided at the lower face of said seat, in such a manner that, when the foot rest is adjacent to said lower face of the seat, an aesthetical contour is thereby im arted to A longitudinally extending link member in the 651! of .a hinged rod 13' is pivoted at 12 to the back S t the armchair, said rod being provided with an elongated slot 14a. More particularly the rod 13' is airangedat the outer part of the vartii or side 4, whereas the 5 is arranged at the inner part of such i.-e. between the two arms of the armchair in order to provide a nection between the rod 13 and the back 5, opening 15 is provided across the sideil for the passa e ofpivot 12-. The rod 13 has a plurality of recesses 14, moor which are shown in the drawin engageable bytl'i'e hooked end 16 of a pawl 17, pivoted at18 to the stationary supporting tructure of the armchair. The awl .17

is provided with a pin or button 19 extending acrossithle' side 4 beyond the upholstery of the same, so extend to the interior thereof a position adapted easy manual lifting by the person resting in the chair. The av'vl 17 returns to its engaging positionby its own weight; 7 H

The other end of the rod 13 is hinged at 20 to a omermaster lever 21-; intermediate fulcrum i 22 ispivoted the aid or axed state sure the swing around the hinge 10 when the rod 24 is displaced.

Between the hinge 20 and the pivot 22 of the master lever 21, an auxiliary hinged rod 26 is articulated at 26a, this auxiliary rod being pivoted to a pin 28 projecting from the seat 7 across an opening 27 in the side 4. A spring 29 is secured with one end to the plate 30, associated with main fulcrum 22, and with its other end to the rod 13, in the vicinity of the pivot 12.

Assuming that the armchair is in the position shown in Fig. 1, it is necessary, in order to pass to a reclining position such as that shown in Fig. 2, to lift the pawl 17 by means of the pin 19, and then to lean with the body on the back 5, so as to rotate the same in the direction of the arrow A. Accordingly the master lever 21 is also rotated in the same direction and causes, by means of the rods 24, 26 respectively, the foot rest to be oscillated in the direction of the arrow B and of the seat 7 to swing in the direction of the arrow A. The spring 29 is accordingly stretched, so that the leaning pressure of the body on the back and the weight of the body on the seat 7 and on the foot rest 9 are mutually balancing the various parts of the armchair, with the aid of the action of the spring-29. When the desired reclining-position is reached, the pawl 17 is released and locks, by engagement with a recess 14a, the armchair in the wanted position.

In the practical embodiment of the invention, it has been found that the pawl 17 is not at all necessary but is to be provided in those few cases in which a further locking of the armchair in any reclining position is desired. Such locking may be carried out in any conventional manner.

In Fig. 3, in which the parts 1' to 23' are identical with the elements 1 to 23 of Figs. 1 and 2 (and in which some of the previously described members have been omitted for clarity sake), the alternate feature consists of the fact that the rod 24, instead of being directly connected to the foot rest 9, is shown to :be hinged to auxiliary first-order lever 24a pivoted at 24b; between the end hinge 24c and the pivot 24b a rod 24d is connected to the auxiliary lever 24a whose movement is thus transmitted to the seat 7.

It is clear from this alternate embodiment that the rods 13 and 24 may be each or both replaced by a rod system, e.g. with the aid of levers which are pivoted to the fixed structure. It is also clear that the armchair may be of any conventional construction.

Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been hereinabove described, it is not intended to limit the inventive concept to this description and herewith the right is reserved to all such modifications and changes as properly come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A reclining armchair, comprising a stationary supporting structure, a seat hinged to said structure at a first pivot point, said seat being adapted to rotate between a lower extreme sitting position and an upper extreme reclining position about said first pivot point, a foot rest hinged to said seat at a second pivot point, a back rest hinged to said structure, an upwardly extending first link member constituting a first-order lever fulcrumed on said structure at a third pivot point, said third pivot point being above the line connecting said first and second pivot points in all the functioning positions of said seat, a longitudinally extending second link member rotatably connected to said back rest at one extremity of said second member and to the upper end of said first member at the other extremity of said second member, and link means operatively connectingsaid foot rest with the lower end of said first member ata fourth pivot point for the simultaneous rotation of said foot rest about said second pivot point through an angle substantially equal to with a rotation of said back rest from a forward sitting position to a rearward reclining position thereof.

2. A reclining armchair, comprising a stationary supporting structure, a seat hinged to said structure at a first pivot point, said seat being adapted to rotate between a lower extreme sitting position and an upper extreme reclining position about said first pivot point, a foot rest hinged to said seat at a second pivot point, a back rest hinged to said structure, an upwardly extending first link member constituting a first-order lever fulcrumed on said structure at a third pivot point, said third pivot point being above the line connecting said first and second pivot points in all the functioning positions of said seat, a longitudinally extending second link member rotatably connected to said back rest at one extremity of said second member and to the upper end of said first member at the other extremity of said second member, and link means operatively connecting said foot rest with the lower end of said first member at a fourth pivot point for the simultaneous rotation of said foot rest about said second pivot point through an angle substantially equal to 180 with a rotation of said back rest from a forward extreme sitting position to a rearward extreme reclining position thereof, said first and fourth pivot points lying substantially in a line including the point at which said link means is connected to said foot rest in said sitting position.

3. A reclining armchair according to claim 2, further comprising hand-operable locking means engageable with one of said members for securing the movable parts of said armchair in a stationary position.

4. A reclining armchair, comprising a stationary supporting structure, a seat hinged to said structure at a first pivot point, said seat being adapted to rotate between a lower extreme sitting position and an upper extreme reclining position about said first pivot point, a back rest hinged to said structure, an upwardly extending first link member constituting a first-order lever fulcrumed on said structure at a third pivot point, said third pivot point being above the line connecting said first and second pivot points in all the functioning positions of said seat, a longitudinally extending second link member rotatably connected to said back rest at one extremity of said second member and to the upper end of said first member at the other extremity of said second member, first link means operatively connecting said foot rest with the lower end of said first member at a fourth pivot point for the simultaneous rotation of said foot rest about said second pivot point through an angle substantially equal to 180 with a rotation of said back rest from a forward sitting position to a rearward reclining position thereof, and second link means operatively connecting said seat with said first member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,652,101 Sarnsky et a1. Sept. 15, 1953 2,743,765 Lorenz May 1, 1956 2,746,520 Ducrot May 22, 1956 2,750,988 Luckhardt June 19, 1956 2,865,431 Ruaud et a1 Dec. 23, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 724,385 Great Britain Feb. '16, 1955 

